Particles such as diatomaceous earth nanoparticles (DE) may be functionalized with fluorocarbons or saturated hydrocarbons to become superhydrophobic, but these particles have been incapable of chemically bonding to anything due to the highly unreactive self-assembled monolayer (SAM) of the fluorocarbons or saturated hydrocarbons. Current coating technologies generally incorporate fluorinated diatomaceous earth (FDE) into polymer solutions. The particles are held in by mechanical forces and can easily be rubbed out of the surface, resulting in a surface that does not have a durable superhydrophobic characteristic. The polymer surface is typically highly porous and very rough. Further, generation of these polymer surfaces is inefficient because the particles are embedded in the polymer and not at the surface to provide superhydrophobic characteristics.